Assisting wild animals

 Debate #5

Assisting wild animals

Paper

1. Follow all instructions
2. Adhere to the honor code
3. Making objections 
• relevant to all three types of papers
• don't just "use Singer against Regan" or "use Regan against Singer"
• come up with your own objections
• better to make a FEW objections FULLY, not make a large number
• read very, very carefully...take notes...go for a walk ... and objections will occur to you
• Develop the objection--
• clarify, restate, elaborate
• support with facts, if relevant
• make an analogy
• strengthen by considering what author would say
• etc.

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Recap

Assisting wild animals (two basic approaches)

1. Laissez faire--intervene in C situations, rarely D, one-off solutions; based on respect for "wild sovereignty" (D&K); based on responsibility (Palmer)
2. Interventionists -- intervene in C & D, possibly large-scale; based on moral status of individual animals, equal consideration of interests
• Conventional intervention
• Gene-editing intervention (Johannsen)

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Kyle Johannsen, "Humanitarian assistance for wild animals" and Wild Animal Ethics, chapter 5. Also interview.

STEP 1: There is vast wild animal suffering

STEP 2: We should intervene to reduce the suffering; large-scale solutions involving gene drives should be considered seriously.

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WORKBOOK

Interview: Johanssen on “bottlenecks” and objections

1. Survivor bias

2. Underestimation of number of wild animals

3. "Natural is good"

4. Religion

5. Conservation goals--healthy ecosystems, restoration, species preservation, NOT individual animal welfare

 

Chap 5: Gene drives vs. conventional aid: why gene drives are better!

1. Gene drives--release edited animals, then no further interference
2. Conventional aid -- must intervene over and over again, so more interference
• protect prey from predators
• vaccinate against diseases, medicate
• rescue and rehabilitate after natural disasters
• restore habitat after natural disasters

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Debate topics:

1. Should we use gene drives to prevent wild animal suffering?
• Yes, Johanssen is right
• No
2. Should we be laissez faire or interventionist about wild animal suffering? 
• laissez faire--mainly intervene when humans are responsible (C cases)
• interventionist--also intervene when humans are not responsible (D cases)...but could restrict intervention to conventional means
3. What is wrong with Johanssen's view?
• A - wild animal suffering not vast
• B - nature should remain natural
• C - the interventions won't work
• D - only the whole ecosystem matters, not each individual animal
• E - other

Assisting wild animals

Papers

1. Read paper instructions!
2. Follow your plan (other papers not accepted)
3. Give paper required structure (other papers not accepted)
4. Follow the quotation rules for the paper 
5. Make sure you adhere to the honor code 
6. We will discuss more on Monday

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Two views of assisting wild animals

Laissez faire (let them be) view

1. Should leave animal habitats alone
2. C and D are different
3. 
   D cases: assistance not required, not wrong
4. Should be one-off, not large-scale
5. Reasons
• D&K - wild animal sovereignty, "wild animals are competent to address the challenges they face" (D&K p. 10)
• Palmer -- context, history, relationships make C and D cases different

Interventionist view

1. Should assist where possible and effective
2. C and D not importantly different
3. D cases: assistance can be required
4. Assistance may be large-scale
5. Reasons
• Singer's ethics (but he doesn't apply much to wildlife issues)
• equal consideration of interests, utilitarianism
• other reasons, perspectives: rights, justice 

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Kyle Johansson, "Humanitarian Assistance for Wild Animals"

STEP 1 Wild animal suffering is a huge problem

STEP 2 What we should do to reduce wild animal suffering

A new movement in animal ethics - interventionist

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STEP 1 Wild animal suffering is a huge problem

• "the amountt of suffering in nature probably exceeds the amount of pleasure in it" (Johansson p. 14)
• 
  "Most individual wild animals live bad lives" (Johansson p. 14)

Evolution selects for attributes that spread genes, not attributes that increase wellbeing.

1. Peacock's tail
2. Male birdsong

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Why so much wild animal suffering?

Reproductive strategies

1. r-strategists--huge number of offspring, little investment, most die young
2. K-strategists -- smaller number of offspring, large investment, more survive

r-strategists

1. Mammals
2. huge numbers killed by predators

K-strategists have problems too (most offspring die)

• humans -- 2 per couple, one per partner -- replacement rate
• eaglets -- each female lays 2-3 eggs per year for 20 years
• leopard cubs--each female leopard has 2-3 cubs every 15 mo-2 years, over 10 years.  
• puffins--each female puffin has one chick every year over 30 years

Predation

1. 2/3 of wild animals eat other animals
2. Prey die miserable deaths

Drought, famine, disease

OTHER: Competition within species

1. Male lions, cheetahs, leopards kill cubs
2. Wolf packs--fighting for dominance, only alpha male and female mate
3. Ungulates (antelopes, caribou, etc.) fighting 
4. Seals, baboons

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Do most animals have bad lives?

1. animal suffering
2. animal pleasure--when do you think wild animals are enjoying their lives?

 

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STEP 2--What should we do to reduce wild animal suffering?

Some possibilities

1. Vaccinate wild animals against disease (already being done)
2. Change r-strategists into k-strategists
3. Turn carnivores into herbivores
4. Reduce capacity for suffering

How? 

• Genetic engineering techniques that alter all descendants
• How? gene drives 

Will the harms outweigh the benefits?

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Next time

1. Choice of readings: chapter from Johansson's book OR an interview with Johansson
2. We will also discuss what Singer says about wild animal suffering (ALN p. 255-259)...optional

Using animals for research

Preview

1. Wednesday your revised plan is due (if requested)
2. We'll start our last module: Wild Animals
3. Clare Palmer article is bout assisting wild animals when they're in danger
• when are we obligated to assist?
• when are we obligated not to assist?

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The Animal Welfare Act: overview and lab animal highlights 

1. Which species? Covers warm-blooded animals, except rats, mice, and birds; not cold-blooded animals (fish, reptiles); lots of monkeys used, but chimpanzees excluded.
2. Life in the lab Regulates housing, food; exercise for dogs, enrichment for primates
3. Impact of procedures Requires anesthesia, analgesia; allows suffering that's integral to the experiment; only two surgical procedures per animal
4. Oversight At local institution, IACUCs; federal inspections
5. What's missing?  IACUC doesn't assess harm/benefit balance

All permitted

1. 

   Draize Test

   Cosmetic testing
2. Household product testing
3. Testing of redundant drugs
4. Animal studies with unclear relevance to humans (psych studies)
5. Repetitive studies 

Singer--AWA should be strengthened, especially when it comes to IACUCs considering balance (ALN p. 100)--many countries already do this; EU, no cosmetic testing

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When is research on animals justified?

Most permissive authors--almost always

Most restrictive authors-- almost never

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Singer's answer: rarely

1. Shouldn't say "never"--e.g. experiment on a mouse may lead to cure for cancer
2. Before saying yes, perform the "human equivalent test." 
   
3. Also beware of the tendency to experiment on "outgroups"
• Nazi experiments on Jews
• Willowbrook experiments on intellectually disabled kids
• Tuskegee experiments on blacks
4.  But sometimes an experiment will be justified under the "non-speciesist ethical guideline"
   
   
5. Example: Experiment involving 100 monkeys that led to discovery of "deep brain stimulation" (Tipu Aziz at Oxford); has relieved Parkinson symptoms in 40,000 patients; in 2018, more monkeys, 100,000 patients
• https://youtu.be/CgkUjVJFQRI (:45 - 2:45, 7:45-9)
• reaction of rights authors like Francione
6. Singer is a Utitlitarian--our ultimate duty is to maximize total happiness (the balance of happiness over misery)

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The utility question

Some ethicist say no experimentation on animals should be done because it has no utility--i.e. you never learn anything about humans

Larry Carbone respond to this, explaining the scientific process

Using animals for research

Paper plans

• Make sure you number the parts of your answer--1, 2, 3. Resubmit if you didn't.
• The grade is just based on whether you met the paper-plan requirements, not on the quality of the plan.
• I will tell you if a revision is needed and give you comments to use in doing your revision.
• If no revision is needed you'll get a 5 on both the plan and the revised plan.

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Francione follow-up

• He says: property status is the biggest threat to animals
• And: animal protection laws ineffective as long as animals are property

Animal cruelty laws

• US map
• Texas animal cruelty law

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Using animals for research

1. Today: what's going on in labs, how are they regulated (Singer, other sources)
2. Monday: is the research justifiable? (Singer, others, Larry Carbone)

Singer, ALN ch. "Tools for Research....no it's not all about saving human lives"

• worldwide, roughly 200 million animals killed for research annually
• worldwide, roughly 80 billion mammals and birds killed for food annually
• .25% of total killed for research

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Singer: a lot of this research causes extreme suffering for animals and little benefit for humans (p. 30-73)

1. psychopathology experiments
2. product and drug testing
3. medical research

Psychopathology experiments--must induce mental illness in the animals, so the misery is the point

• "monkey models of mental illness" (Steve Suomi) -- PETA whistleblower video -- what was the point?
• maternal deprivation (Harlow & Suomi) -- 1950s show about Harlow (6:00 - )
• abuse (Harlow & Suomi), quote on p. 38
• depression  (Harlow & Suomi) -- the well of despair
• learned helplessness experiments (Seligman) -- shuttleboxes
• PTSD experiments -- a schedule of stresses (p. 52)

Singer discusses these problems and others:

1. Extrapolation from animals to humans (discuss Monday)
2. Telling us what we already know, endless repetition
3. Could learn from existing pathology in orphaned and abused animals and people

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Medical research (Singer, p. 67-73)

• inducing mental shock by hemorrhaging dogs (can't extrapolate)
• inducing alcohol addiction in dogs (can't extrapolate)

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Research through the eyes of its defenders

• Tour of an animal lab--Dr. John Young
• transparency strategy--don't let PETA be the only one to tells the publlc what's going on in animal labs
• like state fair showing farrowing stalls
• Americans for Medical Progress

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Regulations

Singer (p. 85-94)

The Animal Welfare Act: overview and lab animal highlights (we'll read)

• Lab animals: applies, but not to mice, rats, birds, cold-blooded animals 
• Farm animals: doesn't apply except during transportation; doesn't apply to rodeos
• Zoos and aquariums: applies to warm-blooded animals, doesn't apply to birds
• marine mammals (p. 196, p. 213) 
• You can file a complaint
• Pets: applies to those in pet stores and during transport

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Critique of Animal Welfare Act

1. Doesn't cover mice and rats, which are most of the lab animals
2. Regulates HOW experiments are done, not WHICH are done
3. Does NOT require a balance between harm to animals and benefit to humans
4. IACUCs rubber-stamp proposals

Regulations are tighter in Europe

• They do require balancing of harm and benefits
• No cosmetic testing
• No sales of cosmetic products tested on animals

Animal companions

Preview

1. Next use of animals we'll discuss: biomedical research (Fri & Mon)
2. Reading just first 12 pages of Singer's 75 page chapter, but will discuss more Fri
3. Paper plan is due Friday

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Gary Francione & Anna Charlton, "The Case Against Pets" (Aeon)

• What's his ethical framework?
• What is he saying about pets?

Will get into groups later

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Complaints about Peter Singer

1. Singer--supports reforms of factory farming--based on equal consideration of interests, utilitarianism--not rights
2. Francione--supports rights for animals
• a right is a "shield" protecting an animal's fundamental interests; a right "protects interests irrespective of consequences"
• animals have "a moral right not to be used as resources, irrespective of whether the treatment is 'humane'..." 

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One primary right

• "the right not to be property" (F&C p. 3)
• being treated as property is the root cause of all ill-treatment
• we have some animal protection laws, but they are ineffective (next time we'll be looking at these laws)
• you can ask vet to euthanize a healthy animal you own
• animal farming practices incentivized by ownership

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Conventional wisdom

• You could reach some of the same conclusions from a simple, obvious premise
• "We should not impose unnecessary suffering and death on animals"
• Many people believe that when thinking about dog fighting (Michael Vick), bull fighting, maybe rodeos, etc. but....
  
  
  
  
  

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The argument so far

• All animals have the right not to be property, we should stop exploiting animals
• People who agree: Tom Regan, Donaldson & Kymlicka
• D&K: pets and former livestock should become citizens

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No more domesticated animals!

Need to understand domestication better....

Wikipedia definition

• "Domestication is a multi-generational mutualistic relationship in which an animal species, such as humans...takes over control and care of another species, such as sheep...to obtain from them a steady supply of resources, such as meat, milk, or labor.  The process is gradual and geographically diffuse... Domestication affected genes for behavior in animals, making them less aggressive...Such changes both make domesticated organisms easier to handle and reduce their ability to survive in the wild... not to be confused with taming."

•  Examples --  here  -- video
• the grey wolf (canis lupus) --> dogs (canis lupus familiaris) 
• domesticated 14,000 years ago
• African wild cats (felis sylvestris lybica) --> house cats (felis sylvestris catus)
•  domesticated 10,000 years ago
• Not domestication
• Keeping a wild animal in captivity
• Taming a wild animal
• breeding

NYT article

  

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Impoverished 

• Because of the way they ARE, not just because of the way we TREAT them

F&C p. 12

• wild ancestors of cats and dogs: self-sufficient, skilled, fearful, avoid humans
• domesticated animals: docile, helpless, dependent, don't fear humans, can "read" humans, want our attention and praise, love us, can be obedient, like perpetual children

Would you rather be reborn as a wolf or a chihuahua?

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Pet action plan

• adopt, protect, animals who already exist--stop treating like property
• support sanctuaries for farm animals: P'nuts animal sanctuary, Copilot animal rescue
• don't breed more, spay and neuter
  

  

  D&K's goal

  

  F&C's goal

  
  
  
  
  

Meat eating, fair/rodeo

Preview

1. Wednesday--Gary Francione: should we have pets? -- but article covers many other topics
2. Friday--paper plan is due

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Defenses of meat eating

Fair/rodeo are offshoots of ranching, animal farming....so now's a good time to discuss.

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Bernard Rollin, "Rodeo and Recollection"

• Rollin--ethicist at Colorado State University, teaches future veterinarians, ranchers, cowboys
• Western ranch culture, rodeo as symbol of the west, critics seen as outsiders
• Culture doesn't insulate from criticism
• How to talk ethics with cowboys? Respect, recollection
• Particular rodeo events he objects to--tie down roping, should replace with break away roping

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Fair Topics

Question for everyone. A lot of western culture and Texas culture is on display at the fair. Did you observe it as an insider or an outsider?

1. Rodeo
•  Rodeo events 
•  Tie down roping
• Break away roping
2. Other animal sports
• pig racing
• sheep dog herding
• other
3. Judging of livestock
4. Animal farming practices
• the birthing barn
• cow milking
• sheep shearing
• etc.
5. Exotic animal petting zoo
• kangaroos
6. Other observations?

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Why is this shown at the fair?

1. Animal advocates have been making undercover videos for years--they think transparency will change your mind, change the industry
2. Animal industry--tried to stop this for years, (ag gag laws) but now are turning to transparency as a weapon

Debate 4: Is humane farming good for animals?

Fair presentations Monday--read all instructions! 

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DEBATE: "Humane farming is good for animals, on the whole" (agree or disagree)-- clarification

1. This is not just saying humane farming is better than factory farming
2.  It's saying humane farming is positively good for animals--as Zangwill says
3. We're doing animals a favor by creating-then-killing-and-eating them on humane farms

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Humane farming is good for animals (AGREE): ideas, allies

1. Zangwill's existence argument-- slides
• being created is good for sheep, outweighs being killed
• sheep don't have rights, so it's against their interests to be killed but not a rights violation
2. "no rights" ally: Carruthers
3. non-animalist concern: bible, Aristotle
4. animals have only a weak interest in continuing to live: McMahan

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Humane farming is good for animals (DISAGREE/DOUBT): ideas, allies

1. Animals do have rights -- Regan
2. Livestock killed very young, when they have a stronger TRICL (McMahan)
3. Even humane farming involves some pain and distress
4. Humane farming takes a lot of land, encroaches on wild animal habitats, resulting in fewer wild animals; so, good for sheep, bad for wolves and lions!

• What would Zangwill say?  p. 5-6: it's good to replace wild animals with livestock because wild animals have more miserable lives.
• Vegan world: would require less agriculture land and leave more wilderness, more wild animals (see Singer p. 184)

 

The existence argument

Budolfson follow-ups:

1. He does not think we lack efficacy all the time--this has to do with the meat and supermarket industry
2. He does not think we lack efficacy when voting!
3. He says some products are "essentially bad" so should be avoided even if we can't make a difference. Suppose cocoamone were factory farmed on a large scale.
4. The next argument we look at implicitly assumes we CAN make a difference.

Eating animals slides

Zangwill, annotated

Debate Friday--which question splits the class?

1. "If you care about animals you should eat them." (Zangwill) Agree, disagree
2. Carnivores are the "natural friends" of animals. (Zangwill) Agree, disagree
3. On the whole, humane farming is good for animals. Agree, disagree
4. Ethically, the best diet is "conscientious omnivore." Agree, disagree

The causal inefficacy defense

 AGENDA

1. Two more vegan field trips
2. Fair field trips next Monday--use field trip instructions
3. Paper assignment
4. Defenses of meat-eating: slides
5. Budolfson article
6. Return midterms--read comments and key

Food choices

Arguments against consuming animal products

1. Tom Regan--it's all rights-violating doesn't matter how it's done
2. Alastair Norcross--the Fred argument; you can make a difference 
3. Singer
• principle of equality--which option must we choose in table below?
• you can make a difference
• changing your diet makes you part of a boycott

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Food choices

1. Standard American Diet
2. Budding conscientious omnivore--switch to a few more-humane products (what should your priorities be?)
3. Reducetarian--Meatless Mondays, "vegan before 6" -- Reducetarian Conference this weekend
4. Conscientious omnivore--no factory farmed animal products 
5. Vegetarian--no meat
6. Vegan/full Vegetarian-no animal products at all

Singer--Better, better, best

Zangwill (next week) -- not just may, but should stop at conscientious omnivore

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DISCUSSION

Choosing humane products (at Whole Foods and other places)

• availability
• costs

Choosing vegan food

• availability
• costs
• health
• taste

Against meat

 Announcements:

1. Class on Nov. 25 cancelled. 
• Schedule changed so that debate 5 is on Nov 20 and RR28 is due Nov. 22.  
2. Reading assignment and RR for Friday modified a bit. 
3. Our first field trip discussion is Friday. Make sure you read the field trip instructions. 
4. On Monday we will discuss the paper assignment.

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Eating Animals Slides

Norcross at Perusall 

The whole article

Workbook (right column)

Animals as Food (factory farming)

Module 3: Using animals

• as food
• as pets
• in research

Statistics

• About 10 billion land animals die annually in food production in the US
• 218 million are killed by hunters, in animal shelters, research, product testing, dissection, and fur farms (2% of total killed)
• More numbers

Methods

1. Factory farming--animals raised and processed in factory-like conditions--most animal products in the US
2. Reforms & humane farming (separate post)

Foods (below)

• Pork, ham, bacon
• Beef
• Dairy
• Chicken
• Eggs

What about....veal, lamb, foie gras, seafood...look up in Singer's chapter and index

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FACTORY FARMING

Pigs (for pork, ham, bacon)

Animal welfare issues

1. crowding (see image below and video)
2. tail-docking -- notice that the pigs in the pictures below have no tails! 
3. ammonia fumes, no straw
4. short lives (life cycle of a market pig) -- 6 months (vs. 15-20 yrs)
5. pregnancy

• artificial insemination 
• sow crates (for pregnant pigs) -- 114 days
• farrowing crates (for birthing and lactating pigs) -- 21 days
• sow impregnanted again 

Hog farm images

New York Times, May 2020 (click for more info)

Pregnancy

Gestation crates (wikipedia)

By Alisha Vargas from Reno, NV, US - Piglets Nursing,
 CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6498410

       

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Beef Cattle

Animal welfare ssues

1. castration, branding, dehorning  
2. live on range until 8 months, BUT at feedlot for several months
3. corn diet, antibiotics, hormones to promote quick weight gain

More info:  Power Steer (Michael Pollan, NYT)

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Dairy Cows

Animal welfare issues

1. cows impregnated once a year (artificial insemination)
2. separated from calf after a few weeks (see calf hutches here) 
3. BST (increases milk production), mastitis
4. What happens to the males? (read about sexed semen) 

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Broiler Chickens (for meat)

Animal welfare issues

1. crowding (20,000 per barn) 
2. debeaking, ammonia fumes
3. collapsing under own weight
4. very short lives (5-7 weeks vs. many years)  

poultry farm images

Farm sanctuary

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Laying Hens (for eggs)

Issues

1. crowding (each chicken has less space than a piece of typing paper) 
2. debeaking
3. male chicks immediately killed 
4. short lives

Glass Walls (PETA) -- watch 1:51 - 3:30

Wikipedia, poultry farming

Looking down into a dumpster - discarded male chicks

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Slaughter

        Slaughter of pigs, cattle (USDA regulated) -

• Rough handling 
• Transported on hot, crowded trucks
• Animals shot in head with stun gun, lose consciousness (ideally)
• Hoisted upside-down, throats slit
• Animals killed at a rate of 400 per hour
• Temple Grandin reforms: more auditing, curved chute

Slaughter of chickens (minimally regulated)

• thrown on trucks, long trip, no water
• shackled upside down, dragged through electrified water, throats slit